Page 50 of Heir of Autumn
I fished the photograph out of his hands gingerly, nodding to show him I wasn’t actually annoyed. He turned it over reluctantly, and I turned it over in my hands, studying the printout.
A picture of the two of us, me smiling at the camera, Sylvain frowning, confused about where to look. I recognized the stone wall in the background. This was taken in the Wispwood castle. I cocked my head at him questioningly.
“It was taken by Bruna,” he said glumly, averting his eyes, shoulders sloped like he’d been caught doing something very naughty. Quite the amusing turn, considering how proud he’d been to show me his colossal collection of porn just moments ago. He held his hand up, mimicking someone holding a cellular device. “She took a picture of us once using her intelligent telephone.”
“They’re called smart phones, Sylvain,” I said, chewing the inside of my lip, adoring him more with every passing second. This squirming, bashful man was someone I didn’t get to see very often, but even knowing that this side of him existed made me love him even more.
“Pah, I don’t see what’s so smart about them,” he said, crossing his arms and huffing. Ah, back to classic Sylvain already, then? “If they’re so smart, then they should be able to recreate the image in paper on the spot. The way an artist paints a portrait. Someone should invent something like that. They would become very wealthy indeed.”
I didn’t want to get into a whole discussion about how the Polaroid camera’s popularity had already come and gone. Instead I sidled up to him, bumping our hips together, returning the photograph where I found it.
“This is very, very sweet of you, Sylvain. Keeping a picture of us and everything. I didn’t realize you were so sentimental. Maybe it’d be nicer if you put it in a frame, and placed it somewhere else in your room? You know, not in your enormous pile of smut.”
He grabbed me by the waist and growled, the look in his eyes almost enough to make me swoon. “You’re my enormous pile of smut.”
I chuckled, thumped him on the chest. “I think I’m perfectly happy being called ‘little human,’ thanks very much.”
“Then worry not, little human. Namirah helped me print our portrait, and she said she would help me find the perfect frame for it, too. Your friends are very, very kind, Lochlann. I find that I am very, very fond of them. Though, with apologies to the others, you’re still my favorite.”
“Am I, really?” I pushed my palm against his stomach, his muscles rippling under my hand as I tried to pull away. He held me in place, eyes gazing into mine.
“You are,” he said quietly. “Really.”
This time I twisted and adjusted enough to slip out of his grasp, the intensity of his eyes too much to bear. I chuckled softly, laughing it off as I left the alcove to explore the rest of his bedroom. I stopped in front of a gilded mirror, its ornate frame decorated with pine cones and leaves cast in brass.
“I just hope your family really is fine with me,” I said, extending my arms to either side. “Everyone at court is dressed so beautifully, and I’m just here in my weird Earth clothes. But you’re right. It’d be a waste to wear the moonlight coat you bought me. I know I should be saving it for a special occasion.”
Yet I wasn’t really thinking about clothes, was I? My encounters with Yvette and Queen Aurelia had been confusing, to say the least. I couldn’t bring myself to tell Sylvain what had happened, and yet I knew somehow that he’d believe me anyway. Did it matter in the end? He did say that they were difficult. That was the polite way to put it.
I watched as Sylvain’s reflection approached me in the mirror. He placed a hand on each of my shoulders, gently guiding my arms down to my sides again.
“Trust me when I say that everyone is fascinated by your so-called weird Earth clothes. I imagine Mother might even be grateful that I’ve found someone who doesn’t detest wearing clothing. She might think you’ll rub off on me.”
A joke flitted through my mind, but I knew it wouldn’t matter if I said it out loud. I could tell where things were going, and I wasn’t planning to hit the brakes.
“Personally, if you were to ask me?” Sylvain bowed his head close to my ear, his reflection’s lashes somehow even thicker and prettier. “I like you very much, with or without your clothing. Tonight, I should like to see you without.”
“Sylvain,” I breathed. Excitement and warmth radiated down to my lower half as he pressed his lips against the dip between my neck and my shoulder. “You’re still wearing your circlet.”
He nipped once at my skin. I flinched, hissed, loving the sensation. “And what of it?” he asked, drawing a line over the bite marks with his tongue.
“I want you to keep it on.”
“As you wish, little human.”
He snapped his fingers, his mouth never leaving my neck, and the glass door leading to the garden creaked open. No draft or chill, like I was expecting, only a stream of soft, pink petals, floating in on a silent breeze.
I chuckled, running my fingers through his great black mane, the silken hair at his nape. “What are you doing now? Flower petals for the bed? Very romantic.”
“No,” he said, pulling away just long enough to answer. “A circlet for a prince? Is that all? It doesn’t seem fair.”
I gasped as the petals arranged themselves all over my hair, overlapping and interlocking into a halo. A crown of flowers. I studied myself in the mirror, blushing at the sight. A prince’s consort, eh? Yeah, I could live with that.
“Sylvain, it’s beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful.” He kissed me on the cheek and chuckled. “I’d like you to keep it on as well.”
I pinched one of the petals with my fingers, tugged, and cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t think I have a choice, really. This thing isn’t going anywhere.”
